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Appy Monday - Two Educational and Fun Apps

If iphones and ipads are really just toys for grown ups, these lovely apps turn them into great toys for kids and are educational too.

Sound Touch

The app is very simple and intuitive and is greatly loved by North London Toddler. Simple screens show pictures of animals, birds, musical instruments, familiar household objects and vehicles and when the child presses the symbol they are shown a photograph of the animal/object and the sound it makes accompanies the photo. Very simple, very good fun and a great way for children to learn the names of different things and animal sounds.

What we loved:
Very easy to use and intuitive. There is a really wide range of sounds available on SoundTouch Lite which is free and even more on the upgraded version, so it doesn't become annoying. The musical instruments in particular have a really great range and play long pieces of music so introduce children to many new instruments.

What we didn't:
Hard to think of anything except that as this is an American design, the vehicles depicted are also American and so the 'nee-naas' aren't instantly recognisable to British children.

Vital Stats:
Availability: iPhone and iPad
Cost: £1.99

Eric Carle's My Very First App

Most of us will have at least one Eric Carle book at home, and this lovely app brings his easily identifiable colourful style to the iPad. Adapted from his My Very First Books series, it is an easy matching and identification game that teaches young children about matching colours and shapes and animals and their homes. It has three levels too (easy, medium, hard) that children can move through as they grow older.

What we loved:
The best thing about this by a long way is the illustrations. It is really lovely to look at and a nice tie in to the books. It is also a good aid to teaching children colours.

What we didn't:
The voiceover that accompanies the app, is quite annoying. The app itself only comes with two sections - (colours and animal homes) and additional ones (numbers, shapes, animal sounds, food) have to be bought separately as plug-ins at a cost of 69p each. Also the app is not always easy to navigate around even for adults as the home button is not intuitively placed.

Vital Stats:
Availability: iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
Cost: £1.49

We hope you like these two apps. Do tell us what you think of them and if you can recommend any other good educational apps for children.